Naspers internet head Roux dies

Antonie Roux (54), head of Naspers’ worldwide internet operations since Apr. 2011, died in a hospital in Germany over the weekend. He reportedly had pancreatic cancer.

He was uncharacteristically unresponsive to media enquiries in recent months, so he might have been ill for a while.

Roux joined the Naspers group in 1979 and was a founding member of M-Net in 1985. In 1997 he was appointed CEO of M-Web South Africa and in 2002 promoted to CEO of Naspers’ internet operations. On Apr. 1 2011 he was appointed CEO of MIH Holdings, making him head of global internet operations and pay-television. (For a short summary of his career and achievements, go here.)

Antonie Roux+

He will no doubt be missed at Naspers and by everyone who knew him. Apart from his positive, out-going, friendly and enthusiastic nature, he played a key role in the unfolding global internet strategy of Naspers from 1997. He will be remembered as a big family man, for his down-to-earth way with colleagues and his great sense of humor.

Both Koos Bekker, Naspers CEO, and Ton Vosloo, non-executive chairman, have released short statements (here), but a formal Naspers statement about Roux’s death, and who will succeed him, was still missing from the company website this morning.

Update 26/7: Naspers placed the following statement on the company site: PDF.

Christo Volschenk joined the AIM Group as a researcher and writer in 2007. He brings more than 28 years of experience in business journalism to the team, the last 16 years focused on e-commerce. In addition to working closely with the AIM Group, Christo is also a freelance journalist and online editor. Before branching out on his own, he spent 15 years with Naspers in South Africa where he worked as journalist, economics editor and online project manager. He now spends most his day supporting the consultants of AIM Group as researcher and writer from an office in Stuttgart, Germany. His editorial focus is Europe, Middle East and Africa.